Shevchenko 2, Ibrahimovic 1
KIEV, Ukraine ● A cult hero is born. Andriy Shevchenko from now on will be the Euro 2012 hero after trumped scoring two great headers to give Ukraine a 2-1 win over Sweden at the European Championship.
The old fox, with 35 the oldest player of the tournament, was the source of a tsunami on Twitter, and will be fron now on a legend in the Ukraine that until now never scored during an European tournament.
After Ibrahimovic had given Sweden the lead in the 52nd minute, Shevchenko responded by heading in the equalizer just three minutes later and then added the winner in the 61st.
The victory gives Ukraine a serious chance of advancing from Group D after England and France drew 1-1, while Sweden faces an uphill battle to remain in the tournament.
Sweden looked on course for a routine win after a slow start when Ibrahimovic, only standing out up to that point by virtue of his white and pink boots, put his team in front.
Fielded in a free role as a playmaker, Ibrahimovic casually diverted a Kim Kallstrom pass into the net seven minutes into the second half.
Shevchenko, however, hit back three minutes later for Ukraine with a diving header from an Anatoliy Yarmolenko cross as a packed Olympic stadium burst into a huge roar.
“Sheva, Sheva!,” chanted the crowd and they had not seen the last of their hero on an electric night.
The striker doubled his tally in the 61st minute when he headed home from a corner at the near post after losing his marker Ibrahimovic. He was later substituted and left the pitch to a standing ovation before being named man of the match.
Surprisingly it was Ukraine who imposed a possessive pattern in the early stages with neat quick passing around the box but the Swedish defense remained composed.
Sweden, however, looked nothing like the team who scored 31 goals in their qualifying campaign and almost fell behind midway through the first half just when they seemed set to gain control.
Shevchenko started a sharp counter-attack and was also on the end of it but, after being perfectly set up by Yarmolenko, he fired an angled shot narrowly wide as coach Oleg Blokhin held his head in disbelief.
Ibrahimovic was too laid back when his downward header bounced on to the far post just before the break and the miss was to proved costly, though substitute Johan Elmander missed a glorious chance to equalize in the last minute when he blazed the ball wildly over the crossbar.
